Wireless cellular communication networks and their operation are generally well known. In such a system the area covered by the network is divided into cells. Each cell is provided with a base station, which is arranged to communicate with a plurality of mobile stations or other user equipment in a cell associated with the base station.
In the last few years the processing capability of user equipment has allowed network multiplayer (i.e. two or more players) games to be stored and played on user equipment.
There is also demand for other user equipment network applications. An example of such network applications include group messaging, where users in a group of users using user equipment can transmit text and images to one or more users in the group. A further example of such a network application is for conference calling between selected groups of users using user equipment.
In the attempt to reduce fixed or “wired” connections between user equipment and other ancillary equipment, for example a mobile phone and a hands-free headset, a series of short range, low power, wireless communication system have been developed and typically embedded within user equipment.
One of the best known examples of such wireless communication systems is the one known as Bluetooth.
Bluetooth uses a low power radio frequency signal, typically in the order of mW transmitted power, to communicate between two entities. It has a range of up to 100 m and is capable of transmitting data rates of approximately 1 Mbit per second with an omni-directional transmission pattern. The latest specification of which is version 1.2 which can be found on the Bluetooth web site.
Another low power short range wireless communication protocol is that known as IrDA or Infrared Data Association. The IrDA protocol uses an infrared transceiver to communicate between entities. The IrDA specification documents are available on the IrDA web site.
IrDA differs from Bluetooth in many aspects such as in terms of range, data capacity and architecture. One important difference between the two is that IrDA is a line of sight wireless communication system. In other words both transmitting user equipment and receiver user equipment must be able to see each other in order to communicate. Bluetooth being a radio frequency system can pass through barriers and does not necessarily rely on line of sight.
To date the network games and network applications that are currently available for use on user equipment in a cellular telecommunication system have been applications which are accessible either purely over the cellular telecommunications network or purely over a short distance using the short range communication link, such as a cable data link or a wireless communication link such as Bluetooth.
Network applications developed for use over the cellular network are typically costly for the user as they require the same number of cellular network links as the number of users attached to the application. Furthermore due to the relatively slow data links used over the cellular network only low bandwidth applications can be supported. The one advantage of such systems however is that provided the user can be located by the cellular network there is no limit on the range of operation of the network application.
Network applications developed for use over the short range wireless communications systems are effectively cost free for the users and have a relatively large bandwidth over which to communicate. However the short range nature of the communication system limits the network application range of operation.
There is therefore a problem of operating and setting up a network application which has no effective limit of range, unlike the purely short range systems, and is cheaper for the user and capable of transmitting at a faster rate and with shorter delays than the pure cellular network applications.